Plague Rat
by Queen of Golden Lions
Summary: Sometimes it all starts with a few sick days and some missed homework. Cloud is such a good person, isn't he Leon? A Kingdom Hearts AU with everyone we love, whether or not they even belong there. This one will indeed be multi-chapter.


**Thus begins the Author's Note!**

_Thanks for clicking on this and reading it. I hope you will like it. It's the first fic I am attempting with *gasp* soon-to-be multiple chapters. I aim to please._

**Clearly I own no characters or games or anything that Square Enix and Disney own...**_  
_

And now on with the story.

Leon shivered as he tossed the last of his clothing into the bathroom dirty-clothes hamper. He stepped into the shower as quickly as he could without hurting himself and stood there, trying to stop shaking. He sniffled and adjusted the water heat. Stupid sickness and fever, messing with his body like this. He was miserable, and had missed several days of school already. He stood still for a moment before turning, letting the water warm his front now. He frowned and adjusted the water temperature again. He was sure that under normal conditions, this would have been a painful temperature for him, but as he was still shivering slightly, he did not care.

The water actually had to be massaged through his hair to permeate the oils and dirt that had built up over the three days he had spent in bed because he simply felt too bad to get up. He sighed and reached for his shampoo bottle and squirted some into his hand. He slowly started to lather his hair up and then suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and nausea hit him. He leaned against the tile wall and hissed as it was still cold. He shivered violently and just decided to sit down on the shower floor. He rinsed out what was still in his hair as he sat there, and waited for the awful moment to pass. A minute later saw him standing again, conditioner applied and being washed out. He adjusted the water heat again, and grabbed a sponge and his soap. He started to lather it up and when it was decently soapy, he turned off the water and began to scrub himself off.

His thoughts had wandered to school while he was soaping off. He had woken up feeling awful on Monday morning and had been later informed by his dad that he had been running a fever of 103.2 at the time. He couldn't remember anything beyond waking up that morning, much less his dad ever entering his room. Needless to say, going to school was not an option that morning. Nor was it on Tuesday, when he woke up in a similar state of misery. He vaguely remembered getting a phone call late on Tuesday evening from Cloud, asking him what was wrong and things of a similar nature. He also remembered not really responding besides a pitiful noise that could possibly have been a "hello?" but then the phone was taken away from him and he lost consciousness again. Leon sneezed. He had better finish this before he got too cold.

The water was turned back on and the soap was being rinsed from his body. Leon leaned against the shower wall for most of this. He was beginning to feel tired again, though not as tired as he had been on previous days. He sighed. Only one thing left to do and that was to wash his face. He spent a moment motivating himself to actually do it before he reached for the small tube of face wash and began to smear the gel over his face. It quickly became a bubbly, lathery, bluish mess and he stuck his face into the hot water as soon as he possibly could to get it all off. Satisfied that he was now completely done with all of his necessary bathing, he just stood in the stream of water, letting it warm him. He knew he should get out and get back to resting soon, so he shut off the water and stepped out of the shower, grabbing his towel and immediately putting it over his head to dry his hair. It was a half-hearted effort though as a few weak tousles were all he managed and his hair remained dripping wet. He sighed and focused on drying the rest of his body so he could put the clean clothes he brought into the bathroom. He stumbled out of the bathroom after hanging up his towel and combing his hair.

He walked into the living room with a hand on the wall for extra support and was mildly surprised to find his dad there fixing up the pillows and blankets that had been previously thrown haphazardly onto the couch.

"Oh, there's my plague rat. You okay?" came an almost annoyingly bright voice. Leon just stared at Laguna as he walked over towards the couch and promptly flopped down on it.

"That good, huh?"

"…" Leon replied.

Laguna sat down on the end of the couch near Leon's head and put a hand to Leon's forehead.

"You took a hot shower?"

Leon nodded.

"Your skin is red. Kind of like a tomato, but you're a person, so…"

Leon turned over and buried his face in a pillow.

"You probably should have been a little bit more careful about that, you know. Don't need you to be scalded on top of being sick! …ah, you didn't dry your hair right," Laguna said, still fussing over Leon. Leon fought the urge to kick Laguna off of the couch. He didn't have to, as it turned out; the man had already left the room.

Unfortunately for Leon, he wasn't gone for more than two minutes.

"Sit up real quick, I'm going to fix this."

Ignoring his better judgement, Leon turned over and sat up, not having the energy to complain as he felt Laguna sit behind him. He did object when a towel was thrown over his head, but he soon gave up his struggle and just let his hair be towel dried. It was slightly awkward, yet bearable; at least Laguna was a source of warmth. After Leon's hair was deemed dry enough to be combed out, the towel was put aside and the comb picked up.

"Cloud has called three times in the past two days, by the way. He seems to be really concerned, so if you can talk to him when he calls this evening, which I know he will, that will probably put his mind at ease," Laguna said in a neutral chatting tone.

"Why did Cloud call…?" Leon asked quietly.

"Hm? He's worried about you, silly. Didn't I just say that? I mean, come on, wouldn't you be worried if one of your friends was suddenly out of school for a few days when they had previously not missed a single day of school that year?"

Leon huffed and pulled the blanket at his feet up to his chest.

"It's not like I _wanted _him to be worried. I didn't think anyone would notice my absence."

"I'm sorry to inform you of this, my darling plague rat, but you happen to have made a few friends that actually, oh I dunno, care about you."

"Stop calling me that."

The rest of Leon's afternoon was spent on the couch going through phases of being conscious and completely out. He was dimly aware of Laguna periodically checking on him, but he couldn't ever place what exactly why for any given time. He was also dimly aware of being half-carried to his room later that evening and that was how he found himself currently sitting cross-legged on his bed, answering his cell phone as it began to ring.

"…Hello?" he managed to mutter at an understandable tone.

"Leon? Oh, you sound awful, are you okay to talk…?"

"'m fine, Cloud."

"…don't you even think about lying to me, Squall Leonhart. Your dad told me about how you've pretty much been a zombie these past few days. If you're not up to a phone call, you can go ahead and tell me."

Leon blinked. Not only had Cloud just "Squalled" him, but he was also using his Not To Be Argued With Very Authoritative Voice.

"I'm fine for a phone call," Leon said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "and I'm doing better today than I have been these past few days."

"Well that's good news," Cloud said in a relieved tone. "But the bad news is that you're falling behind in classes…"

"Which ones?"

"Well we have a math exam on Friday… but you missed a lot of the notes already, so the teacher might give you another day to study if you come back this week. It shouldn't be all that bad, right? You said yourself in the beginning of the year that junior year math wouldn't be _that_ bad, but we all know you want to take that back… Oh, and there's two homework pages due soon for Physics and one page due for History. I think I can email you the link to the book chapters we need to read for English, and that's about it for the classes we have together," Cloud said.

Leon sighed. Why did he have to be ill during an important week of schoolwork?

"When is the other stuff due?"

"Actually, I think the school is going to send you the make-up work by the end of the week… considering the fact that you don't sound well enough to come back tomorrow and if you miss Thursday, why bother coming for Friday?"

"Good point…" Leon said and then suddenly yawned.

Cloud chuckled lightly.

"Tired? I'll let you go then. I might try to drop by tomorrow afternoon with the notes you'll need for class. Bye, Lee."

And with that the line was dropped.

Leon woke up sometime after midday the next morning and stumbled into the kitchen. After downing a glass of water and some fever medication, he wandered into the living room. His couch-bed had been neatly made and a note was lying on the pillow. He picked it up.

_Hello, plague rat! I'm sorry I couldn't stay home with you today, but I had a few things that needed to be taken care of. There's ice pops in the freezer, tea in the cabinets and probably random amounts of canned soup there as well…. Oh, and there should also be apple juice in the fridge if you want it. By the way, Cloud called me earlier this morning and told me he would be by this afternoon with some of your schoolwork, so if I'm not home by then, at least you know what to expect. Be careful, try not to damage yourself or the house, and I love you._

Leon immediately headed into the kitchen.

The rest of Leon's afternoon was highlighted by having eaten at least three lemonade ice pops (which he was grateful for because they were not too sweet for him), failing to eat even half a bowl of soup, watching a bunch of weird movies on his laptop, and trying halfheartedly to read through the English assignment Cloud had sent to him through email. He sighed and put an arm over his eyes. He was tired, but he was also at the point at which his body felt that it needed to remain awake. After a moment, he determined he needed to get up.

He walked slowly into the kitchen, stopping briefly in front of the sink to look out the window into the side yard. It was sunny and bright outside. It seemed miserable. He turned away and opened the fridge, deciding he would finish off the apple juice. He was pouring the remaining juice into a glass when a loud knock at the door startled him into dropping it. Swearing, he cleaned up the mess and grumpily ambled through the living room to get to the front door.

Cloud was waiting on the porch steps with a light frown on his face. He had been warned that Leon would be clumsy and out-of-sorts, but hearing a crash and swearing all before the door was even opened? That was probably not a good sign. He shifted slightly on his feet. He was here for one reason and one reason only; deliver the notes his dear friend would need if he ever wished to catch up to the class time he had missed. He was not to linger for too long as that may lead to all sorts of trouble (namely talking too much and for too long and depriving his moody brunet of rest), and trouble was definitely unwanted. Cloud had also discovered during his friend's absence this unexplainable severe _worry_ that had begun to claw at him, reaching through his mind and threatening to move down into his heart. He was doing his best to ignore it, though… it was just another useless and complicated thing that would make life a lot more difficult to deal with than necessary. He was about to knock on the door again when it opened very suddenly and a disgruntled Leon stared at him before promptly swaying and falling backwards onto the floor.

Cloud had not meant to laugh. He sincerely did not mean to laugh, but damn it, some things just happened. And Leon did not appreciate it one bit. This is how Cloud found himself on the receiving end of a sullen glare from across the living room where they had decided to settle.

"…I said I was sorry."

"That is no excuse," Leon hissed from his couch. "You had no reason to laugh. I don't even know why I still let you into the house anyway."

Cloud laughed.

"You let me in because you couldn't stand it if your grades fell even a point below mine or anyone else's. Besides, what if you had been seriously injured? You would need help, right?"

"I don't need help that would be too busy laughing its ass off at my misfortune."

"Hysterics or not, the fact remains that I'm the only other person here with you at the moment. So like it or not, I'm helping you. Now… can I go over there without being harmed or are you still sulking?"

Leon still did not appreciate this and pretended he did not care. This obviously meant another 30 minutes passed before Cloud was allowed to sit on the floor by the couch to explain the class notes to Leon.

They had moved to the kitchen table for the math work.

"I don't get it."

"It's really not that hard to understand. What don't you get?"

"You just said that if you move this variable here then the equation ends up solving itself or you can't do anything more to it. What are you doing now?"

"No, no, that's only in problems like #12. In _this_ sort of problem, after moving the variable, you need to factor everything and then finish the problem."

"…math is stupid. Can I stop studying now?"

Leon slumped over in his chair and looked up at Cloud in a mock doleful stare.

"I think I'm getting a headache. I can't do this much work while sick."

Cloud laughed and gave in. A break would do well. He had noticed Leon's waning energy even if Leon himself had not.

"If you want me to leave, I can."

Leon looked at Cloud again.

"That was sudden. I didn't say you need to leave."

Cloud stopped himself from shuddering. Though he knew Leon probably didn't intend for any other implications, Cloud picked up on them immediately. It was a little awkward; he himself had only recently become aware of the fact that he _liked_ Leon. It was awkward and scary and a little unsettling and he had next to no idea what to do, much less how to go about making sure Leon did not find out.

"Cloud?"

"Yes?"

"You can stay here."

"Okay."

Awkward silence prevailed. Eventually, Cloud found his voice again and continued teaching Leon the math class work.

Evening events came and went as the cooking of that night's dinner had to be made for three and the conversations at the table lasted a little longer now that there was an extra contributor to them. The table had been cleared and everyone had gone off to do what they needed to do and Cloud had wound up sitting in Leon's room, talking about everything and nothing. Cloud had enjoyed his stay very much, though it had now become very late. He sat up from the floor in Leon's room and gathered his stuff.

"Thanks for having me over today, Lee."

"Thanks for coming over, Cloud."

Cloud walked out of the room and closed the door gently. It was sometime past midnight. He sighed. It was a Thursday night (or early, early, early Friday morning, if you insist) and he had school tomorrow. He should have known better than to have stayed over this late. He continued his mental scolding all the way down the stairs and as he walked through the darkened ground floor of the house.

He should have paid a little more attention. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he very nearly hit a wall. He had avoided the wall, sure, but in doing so, he had run straight into Laguna and knocked the both of them over.

"Oh. Hi Cloud. You know, I was just about to go up and ask you if you were going to be staying over tonight."

Cloud took a moment to answer; he was still recovering from the fall.

"Uh… no, I'm going home…"

"Ah. Okay. Be careful though, okay? It's really late and all sorts of people are out and about at this time," Laguna said as he stood up.

Cloud finally got up as well.

"I'll be fine. Thanks for the concern, but I'll be okay."

He shook his head to clear it and began to head for the door when he heard Laguna's voice.

"Cloud."

Cloud stopped.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for spending time with Squall today. I think he needed it a lot more than he would ever admit."

"No problem."

Cloud left the house.

When Leon returned to school the following Monday, Cloud wasn't sure how to feel. He had called Leon Friday night to talk, but hadn't contacted him again all weekend. Something was just… not right. It was an odd little feeling, like being nervous and excited and scared, all at the same time. He had discussed this thoroughly with his sisters and even called up his friend Roxas, but got no real definitive answers of what it might be. Cloud did feel a little bit bad for seemingly ignoring his friend, but he was mostly sure Leon didn't mind. These thoughts circled in his mind as he sat in his first period English class.

"You didn't call this weekend. Did something happen?"

Well, he did say _mostly_ sure.

"Uh, no… nothing too bad," Cloud said.

"…I was a little worried that you had gotten sick because of me," Leon said. "It wouldn't have surprised me."

"No, no, I'm fine. As healthy as can be," Cloud said. He felt strange all of a sudden. Leon had been concerned, rather than angry? What?

"…hm."

Leon sat down in his seat next to Cloud.

"Cloud?"

Cloud had busied himself with his class work.

"Cloud?"

English was a very important subject, after all.

"It's kind of important, Blondie."

Knowing the proper usages of "they're" "their" and "there" is a very important thing almost as important as "you're" and "your" as many people should know.

"Cloud, seriously."

Cloud glanced up at Leon quickly and was a little surprised to see a slight tint of pink on the teen's cheeks. What was happening?

"Cloud…"

Cloud stopped poring over his papers and finally looked over at Leon.

"Yes, Leon?" he asked.

"…don't worry me like that again, okay?"

Cloud felt an odd wave of emotion hit him at this. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, but it wasn't all that bad either. He found himself somehow smiling though.

"Stop worrying. I won't."

**Well, I already intend to upload more of this, but... depending on what sort of response this gets (if it gets much of a response) I may write a lot more rather than a little more.**

**If you send me reviews... Good things may happen, yo...**


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